Improperly Mixed Developer?

I'm on my phone, and the image patterns look very different from each other, one looks like water droplets (the dark one) the other looks like how plus-x looks when I soup it in DD-X.. Like little hexagons next to each other...

Sorry for the late reply. Thanks for all the posts on suggestions. I switched my developer to Kodak D-76 and it pushes great, has great tones, and still retains good detail in the shadows. The negatives are plenty sharp too for my printing size. However, I am getting small bubble like areas on this film now too. I am mixing the developer 1:1, developing for 11.5 minutes, Tri-x at 800. I bang my tank when I agitate, I have tried more and less banging and the bubbles still exist. In this most recent case they do not clearly ruin the image. They are most obvious (or maybe only occur?) in large areas of middle gray tones. Im assuming the problems from my last developer came from pushing it too far with the dilution. But now I am doing something EXTREMELY standard, and getting what looks like air bubbles no matter what I do! Any help on this one?

(For anyone purely interested in this image as an example, its a 50mm f1.5 Nokton at 1.5)

This image does have the curve manipulated to accentuate the issue, but it is slightly visible under normal viewing. The spots are mostly on the left in the gradient in this image.

Hey guys, Sorry for the late reply. Thanks for all the posts on suggestions. I switched my developer to Kodak D-76 and it pushes great, has great tones, and still retains good detail in the shadows. The negatives are plenty sharp too for my printing size.

It looks to me like frothing, as if the developer is 'fizzing' almost, with small air bubbles on the surface.

The first thing I would do is try another developer and don't risk another film. Then, if the new developer is succesful, take a step back and work out what may have gone wrong with your first option. Perhaps it is agitation that is too vigorous, perhaps check for grains forming around the bottle cap that aren't remixing into the solution, but to be honest it could be a number of things. You could try distilled water for mixing it just to factor out the water quality. And of course if the second developer exhibits the same traits as the first you know it is water quality or your technique.

FWIW, I was mixing Pyrocat MC A5 +B5 +100 and it wasn't doing its job. I was actually mixing in that order and the developer went off. I reversed the sequence, e.g., 100 H2O + A5 +B5 and all was well. Mixing the concentrates first did some weird things. Don't know your mixing sequence but if you are doing it in the order you described, you might want to add the concentrates to the water.

If you are experiencing frothing in the developer, make sure the tank and reel are cleaned properly after using Photoflo. You can switch to Edwal LFN for final rinse, uses less product and rinses clean with warm water for clean up, it can also be used in the developer to de-foam. You also should mix developer with bottled water to insure no entrained air in the water, or allow time for air to settle out.

If you are experiencing frothing in the developer, make sure the tank and reel are cleaned properly after using Photoflo. You can switch to Edwal LFN for final rinse, uses less product and rinses clean with warm water for clean up, it can also be used in the developer to de-foam. You also should mix developer with bottled water to insure no entrained air in the water, or allow time for air to settle out.

I simply have a small tupperwear container specifically dedicated to the PhotoFlo, it only needs 30 seconds of it, so I just make a loop of it holding the two ends, and run it back and forth through the tupperware, saves my poor tank from any harm.